Is This
by theegaydirectioner
Summary: After Harry nearly drowns he realizes what he wants in life. He wants Louis. There's only one problem. Louis doesn't want Harry the same way. To what lengths can their friendship be stretched before it becomes to hard for both of them? Larry Stylinson with a side of Ziall. One Direction Fan Fiction. Everything that happens in this story is fake and I do not own 1D
1. Chapter 1

Is This... Chapter 1

_'Is this day every going to end?' _Louis thought to himself as he made his way down the hall. So far his day had been quite a bore. Government, English, Math, and god knows what other classes that Louis had zoned out in, had all been about as entertaining as watching a wall for a couple of hours. At least his day was almost over. One more class left and then Louis would be free for the weekend.

_'I can make it through Chemistry'_ Louis promised himself. Louis sighed and hitched his backpack farther up and walked down a flight of stairs to get to the main floor of East High School's building. He was just rounding the corner when he felt a familiar weight on his shoulder.

With a smile Louis turned to face his new companion. "Why hello there Mr. Styles. Fancy going to Chemistry today? Mrs. Newberry seemed a little disappointed when you ditched yesterday. Don't tell me you have been shagging her as well. What did I tell you about older woman? They always get attached." Louis said with a playful smirk.

"Oi you prat!" Harry said with a friendly punch to the stomach while wresting Louis around the neck and pulling him closer to get a better grip. "Don't be jealous that I get some."

"Oh so the rumors are true! I didn't want to believe it but I guess you are a slut!" Louis replied, trying to force his way out of Harry's hold.

"They aren't true," Harry replied, releasing Louis while shaking out his curls to return them to their natural state. "Plus, I've only slept with one older woman. You have to admit though, Caroline was the hottest substitute you have ever seen."

"She was pretty hot but that's no reason to bang her! She is 15 years older than you for Christ's sake!" Louis replied. The boys had arrived at their Chemistry class and were slightly late. Louis gave an apologetic smile to Mrs. Newberry as Harry and him made their way to their seats in the back of the room. They settled into their chairs and pretended to pay attention to the lesson while they continued their conversation. "In all honesty though, why were you gone yesterday?" Louis asked, for he was genuinely curious.

"Do you remember that Sarah chic that we met at Zayn's party last weekend?" Harry said with a devilish grin on his face. "Well I got her number and..." he finished whilst raising his eyebrows suggestively at Louis.

"You didn't bang her!" Louis asked incredulously. Apparently he had asked a little louder than was the acceptable whisper for he got several stares from his class mates. "Sorry.." he apologized sheepishly after Mrs. Newberry turned around to glance in his direction. Harry thought the whole situation was hilarious and struggled to stifle his giggles as he replied.

"Of course not. You really think I'm a slut don't you." Harry said defensively.

"Well I'm sorry but you do have quite the reputation." Louis replied with a wink.

"Oh shut up." Harry said with a shove. "We just made out behind the greenhouse. Nothing too drastic."

"You skipped our test yesterday to make out with some chic?" Louis asked, clearly disapproving. "You could have done that after school."

"Hey just because you don't like getting attention from the ladies doesn't mean that others don't." Harry replied.

"You prick you know that's not true." Louis replied. "You know me and Eleanor do it at _least_ once a week." Louis wasn't kidding. Him and Eleanor had sex on usual basis. Ever since Junior prom last school year they had been sexual active. From March till September, so for 5 months they had practically had sex every couple of days.

"I know, just don't be jealous when some of us other lads get some then." Harry said with a wink. "It was nice to make out with someone. I haven't had a girlfriend in so long. Ever since Jessica..." Harry trailed off, lost in thought.

"Hey now, don't get depressed. My day was bad enough and I don't need you to be all sad." Louis was just trying to distract Harry from thinking out her. Jessica. The girl who had broke his best friends heart. The girl who Harry had dated Sophomore and Junior year. The girl who had left Harry and transferred to West High to be with her new boy toy there. The girl who was Harry's first real love. The girl who Harry had cried over all summer. No, Louis was definitely not going to let Harry think about her.

"How has your day been so bad?" Harry questioned, pulling out of his thoughts and shaking himself a little to expel the bad memories. Louis was happy he had gotten Harry out of his thoughts so quickly. Usually it took a good couple of jabs to his sides and a lot of joke telling before Harry returned to usual cheery self.

"Oh nothing in particular. My days has just been horrendously boring. Seriously, would it kill the teachers to tell a joke every now and then. I swear I'm going to die if school is going to be like this for the rest of the year." Louis loved jokes, he loved being a goof and acting like a child. That was just Louis. Louis didn't like it if he didn't laugh at least twice an hour.

"You're telling me I'm the depressed one." Harry said with raised eyebrows. "And don't get your knickers in a twist, doesn't the swim season start next week?" Harry could tell by the way the Louis' face instantly lit up that he was correct.

Louis loved swimming. He had ever since he started swimming competitively in fifth grade. That was where he had met Eleanor, Liam, Niall, and Zayn; his close friends that he had now. Besides gaining some amazing friends, Louis loved swimming because frankly he was unbelievably good at it. He had a real talent for swimming ever since he had started. Louis had progressed faster in swimming than anyone that his Coach Simon had ever seen. Louis had become the fastest swimmer on the team by 7th grade and no one was really surprised. He was just so fast in the water! Louis had come to love the long hours spent swimming in the pool and he had grown to love the start of every swim season. That is why, when Harry asked innocently when the swim season started, he was not expecting the explosive response from Louis.

"Ahhhh don't remind me! I don't think I can take waiting 3 more days!" Louis practically shouted. This time the whole class turned to look at him. "I'm so sorry." Louis said, blushing a deep scarlet. "I'm just really excited for the season to start." He said in a much quieter voice than he had used in his outburst.

"Well next time contain your excitement until after my class Mr. Tomlinson." Mrs. Newberry said. She turned around and continued teaching her lesson. The class eventually all turned back around and started paying attention again while Harry laughed silently to himself.

"I can see your excited for the season to start." Harry said with a grin, his dimples showing clearly. "I'd say that is the most enthusiasm that I have seen out of you in a while, probably more enthusiasm than you show in bed with Eleanor." Harry grinned widely.

"You douche!" Louis said and punched Harry hard in the shoulder. "What is it with you and making jokes about my sex life lately?"

"Oh nothing, I just think it's fun to joke. Hey weird question, does Eleanor moan?" Harry asked completely out of the blue. "When I was making out with Sarah the other day she moaned a little as I kissed her. Is that normal? I bet she would moan galore in bed." Harry asked his questions very casually, knowing that it wouldn't be too awkward. Louis and Harry were really close friends and questions like this were acceptable. Just because they were acceptable though, doesn't mean that is didn't make Louis feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Um yah, she moans a bit in bed." Louis answered, blushing for the second time in minutes. Harry nodded and the conversation ended there, or so Louis thought. Harry and Louis actually payed attention to the lesson about protons and neutrons for a good twenty minutes until Harry became curious again.

"Do you moan?" Harry asked. Louis coughed and choked a bit, taken aback by the question Harry had just asked him. Louis hid is face in the table while he tried to regain his normal breathing pattern. Louis couldn't help thinking about why Harry was suddenly so damn curious about Louis' sex life. Probably because he was finally getting over his break up with Jessica and was getting horny from not getting any action in the sac.

"Dude that is totally inappropriate." Louis stated. Not wishing to answer.

"Oh come on, I bet you moan all the time. You probably moan like a porn star." Harry teased. Louis blushed again, he felt like his face was on fire.

"I don't moan okay!" Louis hissed out the side of his mouth.

"Why not? I didn't moan when I was with Jessica either!" Harry stated.

"I don't know. I just don't moan. Why didn't you moan?" Louis answered.

"You enjoy it right?" Harry said, completely ignoring Louis question.

"Are you kidding me? Of coarse I enjoy it. Why would you even ask that?" Louis mouth was parted a bit in confusion._ 'What is up with Harry lately?' _

"I don't know dude, sorry. It's just your a swimmer, and swimmers are notorious for being gay." Harry stated.

"Seriously? How long have been friends Harry? You would be the first to know if I was interested in guys."

"We have been friends since we were seven." Harry said proudly at remembering. "We grew up together, Our mums were best friends. Sorry, forget I even asked. I don't really know why I even said that. Plus I shouldn't rag on swimmers, I'm thinking of joining the team." Louis would be lying if he said he was shocked by what Harry had just said. In all the years that Louis had known Harry he had shown practically no interest in swimming. Louis had invited Harry numerous times to come join the team and Harry had always refused.

"Why?" Louis asked simply.

"Honestly?" Harry asked, looking down. He seemed embarrassed to answer.

"No," Louis said sarcastically, "I want you to make up the most fantastic story you can. Make sure you include me and a magical unicorn in it as well, seeing as how your doubting my sexuality."

Harry laughed at that one and Louis continued. "Tell me why though really. I mean, you're starting a little late don't you think. Most people start as children or as freshman. Not as a high school senior." Harry took his time, picking nervously at his fingers while he answered.

"I'm thinking of joining mostly because I'm lonely." Harry said it like it was the most shameful thing he had ever admitted. Louis frowned a bit, thinking about what Harry had just confessed. Harry was lonely. Louis didn't know why but this broke his heart. The thought of Harry being alone really made Louis sad for some reason. Now Louis was feeling guilty. It was his job as Harry's best mate to make sure that Harry was always happy. Smiling like a mad man Louis continued their conversation.

"I think it would be a wonderful idea for you to join. We can hang out even more now!" Louis said with real joy in his voice. It would be great to spend more time with Harry in Louis' opinion. Harry was fun to be around and Louis was genuinely looking forward to hanging out with Harry more. "I must warn you though, swimming isn't as easy as it looks. I guarantee you drown your first day." Louis said playfully.

"I'm not that bad of a swimmer." Harry objected.

"I'm just kidding Haz." Louis said. "Seriously though, swimming is pretty difficult. I hope your looking forward to working your ass off."

"I am." Harry said and with that the bell rang, signaling the end of class and then end of the school day. Now Louis and Harry were free to go home. "See you later Mrs. Newberry." Harry said with a wink. As soon as they were out of the classroom Louis gave Harry another friendly shove.

"I can't believe you sometimes! You are such a tease!" Louis said, completely miffed by what Harry had just said and done.

"You know it." Harry grinned, his dimples popping out and highlighting his smile.

"I do know." Louis said. Next Monday, the beginning of the new swim season, was going to be extremely interesting with Harry there. Louis didn't want to admit it, but he was looking forward to Harry joining the team more than he had let on. Louis hadn't been this excited about something in so long, he might even be more excited for Harry to join then for the actual season to start and that was saying something. _'Why am I so excited for Harry to start swimming?' _Louis didn't want to think about the answer to his own question.


	2. Chapter 2

Is This... Chapter 2

Louis was happy, well that was an understatement. Louis was ecstatic. Today was Monday. After a long, boring and, torturous weekend, it was finally Monday. _'Today is the day Harry joins the swim team. Wait what? Today was the day swimming started. Yes, Harry is joining the team but I should be more excited about the season starting.' _Louis was preoccupied with his thoughts as he walked into the halls of East High School. That was the most likely explanation at least for what was about to happen.

Unfortunately for Louis, Niall was running a bite late and was in a a hurry. He had recently been invited on a date and he needed to be out of the school as fast as possible so that he wasn't recognized by a teacher and get in trouble for sluffing. As Niall tried to get out of the front doors of East High he didn't realize that Louis was behind them. Louis was thinking a bit to hard and wasn't expecting the door to open very suddenly and that was why his face met the glass as he reached for the handle.

Sudden pain registered in Louis mind as he stepped back, grabbing for his face. His nose was throbbing and so Louis wasn't surprised as he felt the warm blood start to flow and get all over the his hand and mouth.

"Oh my God man I am so sorry!" Niall rushed to apologize. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a homework assignment from his math class, handing it to Louis. "Here use this to wipe it up a bit." He glanced nervously at Louis. He felt really bad for hitting him in the face with the door but he really wanted to get to his date as fast as possible.

"It's alright man," Louis said while trying to staunch the bleeding with the unfinished assignment. "It was my fault for not paying attention. Why are you in such a hurry though?" Louis asked.

"I uh...," Niall stammered. "I'm just going to go hang with someone." Niall finished lamely.

"Hang out?" Louis questioned. Niall was a horrible liar and Louis knew it. "Are you going to possible make out with this person while you 'hang out'" Louis said with quoting fingers. Unfortunately to accomplish the quoting action he had to raise the crumpled paper from his face and the blood started to flow once more from his nose.

"Okay I do have a date but that is none of you business." Niall said while moving around Louis and walking down the stairs to get onto the sidewalk.

"May I know who this person you are ditching school for is?"

"Nope." Niall answered over his shoulder.

"Well are you at least going to show up to the first day of practice?" Louis had to raise his voice as Niall was quickly disappearing down the sidewalk.

"We will be there!" Niall shouted back. _'We? Ah so he must be going out with some chic on the team.' _Louis speculated to himself.

"Have fun with whoever she is. Make sure both your asses are at practice or I will kick you off the team." Louis shouted back. Niall's face turned white as he realized that he had given away that he was dating someone on the team, then he regained his composure because he hadn't yet said exactly who it was. If he told Louis he would for sure get hell from the boys for a week straight.

"_We_ will be there." Niall stressed the we. "And don't get such a big head. Just because Simon made you captain this year doesn't mean you can boss me around."

"I can and I will! Make sure your there!" Louis hollered at him.

"Whatever you say, Your Majesty." Niall did a little bow with his shout back, or at least that's what Louis thought it was, he was pretty far away now.

Louis huffed to himself and made his way through the school to the nearest bathroom to take care of his nose. After cleaning up his face and praying that his nose wouldn't start randomly bleeding in one of his classes during the day he left the bathroom. Louis' day continued on it's usual pattern. Louis already felt like he was wearing the same trench in the halls and it had only been a month since school had started. It was September, he shouldn't be this bored of school already. _'Oh well, swimming __starts today and that will just make everything better'_ Louis promised himself throughout the day. If he had thought Friday was hard, Monday was unbearable. It was like all of his teachers were purposefully making their classes as uninteresting as possible, just because they knew that Louis was looking forward to this afternoon. It seemed like a whole school week had passed by the time Louis was making his way to his final class, Chemistry, with Harry at his side as usual.

"Well don't you look like a ball of sunshine today." Harry commented on Louis obvious saddened state.

"I just want to get to swim practice!" Louis wasn't a very religious person but he was preparing to start praying just for this day to be over.

"Don't worry Lou, we will be there soon enough."

"Not soon enough for me," Louis pouted and sat in his chair in chemistry. He was mentally preparing himself for the rest of the boring class hour when Harry interrupted his process.

"Are you excited?" Harry asked eagerly. He eyes brightened considerable and his face looked like a child's on Christmas morning.

"Of coarse I am excited." Louis responded. "But if my eyes aren't deceiving me, you look like you are looking forward to it as well." Louis commented.

"I am for a matter of fact. I think it is going to b-" Harry was interrupted as Mrs. Newberry stormed through the door and jumped right into her explanation of ions. _'She does not look happy today' _Louis remarked to himself. _'Maybe a joke to cheer her up' _Louis raised his hand and patiently waited for Mrs. Newberry to call on him.

"Yes Louis, what is it this time?" She said a little exasperatedly. She wasn't really in the mood to deal with Louis flamboyant personality.

"What did silver say to gold when he walked into class one day?" Louis made the joke up on the spot and frankly it was pretty stupid.

"What?" Mrs. Newberry said with no interest in her voice.

"Ay you! That's my seat. Get it gold is AU haha" Louis finished with a smile. A couple of kids in class laughed at how dumb the joke was while others just shook their head, embarrassed for Louis.

"That was a very good one Mr. Tomlinson but if I may, I would like to get back to teaching." Mrs. Newberry turned around, completely ignoring her students for the next 30 minutes while she explained her lesson. Louis and Harry didn't dare speak any further until near the end of class when Harry was quite bored and in the mood to tease Louis some more.

"Hey boobear, I got another question for you." Harry whispered and poked Louis in the side to gain his attention.

"I hate my mother for ever telling you that nickname." Louis said flatly. Yes it was cute when his mother called him that but whenever any of his friends called him that they were simply doing it to annoy or tease him.

"Well do you want to hear my question or not?" Harry asked with a grin that reached his eyes. He knew Louis was off guard and this question was going to get such a great reaction out of him. He could imagine the blush and disbelief sure to fill his eyes in mere moments.

"Sure Haz what is it?" Louis was bored as well and was frankly just counting down the minutes till class was finally over and he could get to swimming. He was definitely not expecting the words that came out of Harry's mouth next.

"Are you excited to see me naked?" Harry prompted with obvious glee on his face. Of coarse Louis, being totally unprepared for such a sexual and awkward question, was left speechless. His face had morphed into one of complete disbelief and Harry wished he had a camera with him. He wished he was able to capture Louis face at that moment. The wide eyes, the immediate blush, his mouth parted into a wide O that showed how unbelieving he was that Harry would ask such a question. After only giving Louis a few seconds to reply Harry continued. "Well, since you didn't reply I will take that as as yes. Trust me when I say this though, I am looking forward to see you in the nude as well." Harry finished with a wink.

Louis was taken aback. He didn't know what to say. _'Why the hell would he ever ask me something like that!' _Louis was having a mental freak out while he tried to compose himself and answer. Eventually he got out, "No I am not looking forward to seeing you naked! Why would you even think such a thing?" Louis wanted to get a little bit of revenge for Harry's question so he said, "I can see though that you will probably be gawking at me while I change. Who was it the other day you were accusing of being gay? I think you might want to take some time and do some soul searching buddy. You're seeming pretty gay to me lately." Louis finished his retort and leaned back in his chair.

"I was kidding, I'm not gay and you know it. Remember that time you walked in on me and Jessica doing it?" Harry said with a grin, "Sorry about that mate, anyway, there's no need for you to get so defensive bro. I was just making a joke."

"I know it was a joke but lately you have been making a shit ton of inappropriate and extremely sexual comments abo-" Louis was interrupted as Harry roughly grabbed his face to turn it towards him. "What the hell man!" Louis exclaimed.

"Your nose is bleeding." Harry explained while reaching across the aisle and grabbing a tissue from Mrs. Newberry's desk that the boys were so conveniently sitting next to. "Here," Harry said as he gently dabbed the tissue under Louis nose to stop the flow of blood.

Louis was a little shocked at what was going on. He had been in the middle of yelling at Harry when he was interrupted and now he just didn't know what to do. Harry's strong large hand was cupping Louis chin and tilting it slightly upwards as he dabbed gently at Louis nose. The position felt extremely awkward to Louis but also very comfortable at the same time. Louis focused on Harry's face as he tried to hold still and was mesmerized by the way Harry's eyebrows scrunched up in concentration and his eyes focused so that he could see what he was doing better. Louis just sat there, staring at Harry's deep green eyes as he continued to whip his face clean. Louis had never noticed before but Harry had probably the most beautiful eyes Louis had ever seen. Louis felt like he could get lost in the sea of green if fate permitted. Several moments later Harry looked up and met Louis crystal blue eyes. "There all done." He said with a smile. His hand was still holding Louis face in place and Louis didn't want to admit it but he was enjoying the contact with Harry. Louis coughed awkwardly.

"Um thanks," Louis said, breaking eye contact with Harry.

"No problem mate, What are best friends for." Harry removed his hand from Louis chin and patted him lightly on the face. The boys sat in silence after that. Louis was busy trying to figure out what kind of emotion he was currently feeling while Harry was busy thinking about what his first day on a competitive swim team would be like. Thankfully the bell rang a few minutes later excusing all the students from class and Louis and Harry got up and made their way to the door. "Later then," Harry said with a wave as he walked down the halls to go find his locker.

"See you at practice," Louis called after him. Louis shook himself to clear his thoughts. _'Wahoo!' _Louis celebrated in his head. _'The swim season is finally here!'_ Louis was bouncing with energy and excitement as he made his way outside and across the school campus to their recreation center where the pool was held, forgetting for the time being the moment he had just shared with Harry. He was completely and utterly focused on the fact that he was going to be swimming very soon.

Louis rushed through the locker room, changing in a blink of an eye. He was the first one in the locker rooms and was still alone as he finished showering and headed out a side door in the shower room to the pool in the next room. He wouldn't be lonely for long though. He was met on deck by his fellow captain and girlfriend Eleanor. Besides Eleanor and her best friend Danielle there was nobody else on the deck surrounding the lap pool.

"Hey babe!" Eleanor called and Louis rushed over to greet her with an embrace. Eleanor gave him a quick peck on the lips and smiled, "Are you excited for the first day of practice Captain Tomlinson?" Eleanor teased.

"As a matter of fact I am not looking forward to it Captain Calder." Louis lied rather poorly.

"Oh is that so?" Eleanor questioned, wrapping her arms around Louis' neck. "That's a real shame. I think something extreme is going to happen today and you aren't even going to be excited about it."

"Something extreme? Like what?" Louis asked for clarification.

"Oh you never know, we all might die, we might get scholarship offers. I don't know, something extreme is going to happen today. You mark my words." Eleanor was being completely sarcastic but she had no idea how correct she actually was. Something extreme was going to happen today and it was going to change Louis forever, whether he wanted it or not.

"We will just have to see." Louis said. After that they waited around, chatting aimlessly as they waited for their coaches and other team members to show up. Coach Cowell showed up in the next couple of minutes with exclamation of "Simon!" from the gathered swimmers. It had been a while since some of the swimmers had seen him. Shortly after Coach Teasdale and Coach Higgins showed up, completing the leadership part of the team. All of the coaches and captains were there, now they just had to wait for the swimmers. Niall and Zayn showed up at the same time, coming out of the locker room dripping wet and shivering from their showers. Liam showed up a little while later and rushed over to Danielle to get a hug and a kiss from her. "Hey no P.D.A at the pool." Louis harassed them with a smile.

"You hypocrite!" Danielle exclaimed. "You and Eleanor were all over each other just a few moments ago."

"I wouldn't say all over each other." Eleanor said. "Plus, you were the only one here, we weren't making any of the Freshman uncomfortable." Eleanor was telling the truth. A couple of the freshman did look uncomfortable but probably not because of Liam and Danielle kissing. It was their first day of swimming, they didn't know what to expect and they were just awkwardly shuffling around, waiting for some sort of instruction as to what they were supposed to do.

"Louis!" Louis heard someone shout. Louis turned around to find the one person who would actually shout across the room just to gain his attention.

"Harry!" Louis shouted back. Motioning for Harry to join their little circle of friends. Harry was wet from his shower and his curls were dripping water all over the place. It wasn't Harry's fault but everybody immediately turned to stare at him, mostly because he had an amazing body. Louis had never known before how ripped Harry was. Yeah he knew Harry worked out quite often but Louis was not expecting to see the glorious six pack that Harry had and the deepest v-lines Louis had ever seen on a human being. Louis breath caught in his throat as he admired his best mate. He quickly stopped thinking any thoughts about Harry and tried to focus on Zayn who was speaking.

"I didn't know Harry was swimming this year." Zayn said, gaining nods of agreement from Niall, Liam, Danielle and Eleanor.

"I guess I didn't tell you guys but yah, Harry is swimming this year." Louis tried to clarify.

"Awesome!" Niall said and reached to give Harry a high five as he joined their group. "Good to see you man! Why are you swimming though? Can you even swim?"

"Of coarse I can swim!" Harry shot back. Louis could tell he was purposefully ignoring Niall's first question and Louis didn't blame him. The group chatted aimlessly once more, welcoming Harry with open arms. After all, they were all friends already, it was just good to have Harry finally join the team with the rest of them.

"Okay swimmers lets get to swimming." Simon said gaining everyone's attention. "If you haven't swam before, meet over here," He said motioning to the area on the left side of the pool. "And if you have swam before, meet over here and we will split you into your swimming lane's based on your speed." Simon said motioning this time to the right side of the pool.

"Later then." Harry said as he walked over to the left side of the pool to be instructed about swimming. Louis and the rest of the group went over to the right side of the pool to be sorted into their lanes. Nial, Zayn, Liam, and Louis were all put in the boy's fastest lane. They were put closest to the wall in lane one along with several other swimmers, bringing the lane total to eight swimmers. Danielle and Eleanor were put into the girl's fastest lane which was next to the boys lane in lane two along with more swimmers. Simon was in charge of the first three lanes, because they were the fastest. Coach Paul Higgins was in charge of lanes four through six because they were the next fastest while Coach Lou Teasdale was in charge of lane seven and eight which were the slowest.

Harry, being a new swimmer and no one knowing how fast he was yet, was put into lane eight with Coach Teasdale. Practice commenced, everyone did their warm up and started their swimming sets assigned to them by their coaches. The first day of practice wasn't that hard though and for that Louis was grateful, he was quite out of shape. Throughout practice Louis would glance over occasional to see how Harry was doing and he seemed to be just fine. Once practice was over and the Coaches congratulated everyone on surviving through the first day everyone got out of the pool and headed to the showers. Harry's lane had ended up on the other side of the pool, farthest away from the door. Louis decided to wait for Harry but that didn't mean he was going to be patient, "Hurry up Harry! I'm cold." Louis called across the pool.

"I'm coming!" Harry called back, picking up his pace and practically sprinting across the pool deck. This was a very grave mistake. In his haste to get to Louis, Harry didn't see the huge puddle that had formed in front of him. Harry's running caused him to lose his footing and he started sliding in the water that had collected on the floor. Harry lost his balance as he neared the corner of the pool and slipped and ended up on his stomach. Harry's momentum was too great and it carried him as he slid on his belly, headfirst into the pool. Louis watched in horror as he saw Harry hit is head on the side wall of the pool and slip below the surface.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Louis shouted as he ran and dived into the pool.


	3. Chapter 3

Is This... Chapter 3

_'Is this seriously happening?' _Louis mind raced as he sprinted across the tiles.As soon as Louis entered the pool his CPR Training kicked in. He swam faster than he had ever swam before to get to Harry's limp body. When he was within a couple feet he dove below the water and hooked his arms around Harry's shoulders and pulled him to the surface. Luckily Eleanor had heard Louis yell and had come to the side of the pool to assist in the rescue. With Eleanor holding Harry by the arms, keeping his head suspended above the water to prevent further drowning, Louis climbed out of the pool and helped Eleanor pull Harry all the way from the water. They put his unresponsive body onto the tiles and Louis started the CPR procedure.

"Harry," Louis said in a calm but loud voice. He slapped Harry on the cheek to try and wake him up. When he didn't respond Louis tried slapping him and calling his name once more before concluding that Harry was unconscious. Next he had to determine if he had a pulse. Louis placed two fingers under Harry's jawline and located his artery and felt for a pulse. Nothing. Louis glanced at Harry's chest and could clearly tell that he was not breathing. "Harry stay with me," Louis said, a little panic evident in his voice. Louis looked around frantically for a first aide kit. He spotted one on the wall on the opposite side of the pool. "Eleanor go get the first aide kit and see if there is a CPR mask in there," Louis commanded. It is best to perform CPR with a mask so as to not spread any disease from the rescued to the rescuer and vice verse. Louis could care less about the mask, he knew Harry wasn't infected with anything, but it was always important to follow procedure.

"I'm on it," Eleanor called over he shoulder as she sprinted across the tiles. Not waiting to see if a mask was available Louis started chest compressions. One, two, three, four, Louis forced Harry's heart to beat. Five, six, seven, eight, nine. Out of the corner of Louis' eyes he could see Eleanor searching through the first aide kit for the mask. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen.

"Eleanor?" Louis called, checking to see if there was a mask or not while still continuing his chest compressions.

"There's none in here!" Eleanor cried back. She dropped the box of supplies and ran back to Louis side.

"Stay with me Harry," Louis said again to an uncaring Harry. He was knocked out, he couldn't hear a thing. Twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty. Louis took his hands off Harry's chest and positioned his right hand on Harry's face and squeezed his nose shut. With his left hand Louis tilted Harry's chin up to open up his air passage. With a deep breathe in, Louis lowered his face to Harry's and sealed his mouth around the lips of his unconscious best friend. Louis forced his lungful of air into Harry's lungs and watched as Harry's chest raised, signaling that he was doing it right. Louis detached his lips from Harry's and took in another deep breathe. Louis leaned back down and forced more air into Harry. After completing his two rescue breaths Louis went back to his thirty chest compressions.

"I'm going to go out front so I can direct the EMTs to the right place," Eleanor said as she ran out to the main lobby of the building. Louis barely even processed that she had said anything. Louis just continued his rhythm of thirty compressions and two breathes while he broke down inside.

_'You can't leave me Harry!' _Louis was shouting inside his head. _'Your my best friend, I can't lose you.' _Louis' vision was blurring and he blinked to clear the moisture away. One single tear escaped down Louis' face and he watched as it dropped onto Harry's nose as Louis bent over to desperately try and breathe life back into his friend. Louis continued his chest compressions, praying to God that he wouldn't take Harry away from him. _"_Please come back to me Harry,"Louis begged in a quiet broken voice before he took in a breathe and placed his mouth over Harry's once more.

Louis breathed out as much as he could, watching Harry's chest rise once more. Louis pulled away and started to breathe in, preparing again to revive Harry. Louis never got the chance to fill his lungs for he froze as soon as he heard Harry sputter. Water came gushing out of Harry's mouth and Louis felt like jumping with pure joy as he saw Harry open his eyes and blink rapidly, trying to orient himself.

"Wha-" Harry tried to say but he never got to finish his sentence. Louis flung himself around Harry and hugged him as hard as he dared.

"I thought I had lost you," Louis sobbed into Harry's curls. Louis didn't care that he seemed like a baby right then. He had almost lost his best friend in the whole wide world, he had the right to cry.

"What happened?" Harry asked, hugging Louis back even though he didn't know why he was doing it. He was confused as to why he was on the tiles by the side of the pool before he remembered with a sudden clarity what had happened. He gripped Louis as realization spread through him. "You saved me." Harry said, awe in his voice. He held onto Louis with as much force as he could muster. Harry tried to express his feelings by tightening his hold on Louis until it was no longer possible for them to be closer or hold on tighter.

"Yah I saved you," Louis said sniffing and pulled away. "I hope you don't mind if I kissed you a bit in the process. I just couldn't resist." Louis teased weakly. _'Wait...What?' _Harry thought. _'Kiss me? What is he talking about? All he did was perform CP..' _Harry's face paled as he remembered how CPR worked. Almost instantly though his face turned a beet red color as he realized what Louis was suggesting he had done to Harry's unconscious mouth.

"You did what!" Harry exclaimed. He clearly didn't get that Louis was kidding.

"Chill dude, I was joking," Louis tried to explain. _'I shouldn't have made that joke.' _Louis chided himself. He couldn't help it though. Louis told jokes when he was in a stressful situation. That's just what he did.

"Oh, okay.." Harry said slowly. "Um thanks man," Harry said suddenly nervous. His gaze was firmly focused on the tiles beneath them.

"No problem," Louis replied. Fortunately for them that was when Eleanor decided to come rushing back in with the EMTs on her tail, saving them an awkward moment.

"Oh thank God!" Eleanor exclaimed as she saw Harry conscious and sitting up.

"Hey," Louis called to her, he didn't know what else to say. The two EMTs rushed over and immediately placed Harry on the stretcher they had brought with them.

"Did you save him?" The female EMT asked. She was young, probably in her twenties.

"Um.. Yes?" Louis answered but it sounded more like he was asking a question instead of answering one so he tried again. "Yes I saved him. You should probably check his head though. He hit it really hard when he slid into the pool," he advised.

"We sure will. You did a good job son," The second EMT said. He was a big man with a bikers mustache, probably in his late thirties. The EMTs loaded Harry up and Louis followed them as the wheeled Harry out put him in the ambulance. Louis and Eleanor watched as the ambulance took off to the hospital. They needed to get a CAT scan of Harry's brain to check for damage. Louis shook a little as he came down from the adrenaline rush he hadn't even realized he had been on since Harry fell in the pool. He walked back into the building meeting Liam, Niall, Zayn, and Danielle in the lobby.

"Are you all right man?" Liam asked with deep concern in his voice. "Is Harry going to be alright?"

"I'm fine and he will be to." Louis assured him.

"Thank God!" Liam said and pulled Louis into a tight hug. Danielle, Zayn and Niall joined in on the hug and they stood there in their giant embrace until Niall spoke.

"It's a great thing you're trained as a life guard ay!" Niall said cheerfully. "I still can't believe you saved him. Good job man," Niall said and patted Louis on the back.

"Thanks guys. I hope you don't mind but I think I'm going to go shower." Louis said as he peeled away from the hug and walked off towards the lockers.

"Later man." Zayn called as he walked away. In response Louis turned around and flashed his group of friends a smile. After he finished showering he changed slowly, reviewing what had just happened in his head. Louis was still in shock as he drove home and walked through his front door.

"Louis is that you?" Louis' mom, Jay, called from the kitchen.

"Yeah," Louis replied.

"Louis!" four collective high pitched girl's voice screamed in excitement. All of Louis' sisters came running out of the kitchen and into the living room where Louis was lowering himself onto the couch. In a matter of seconds Louis was buried alive under hugs from Phoebe and Daisy, his youngest siblings who were also twin sisters. Fizz and Lottie, his only other siblings, came into the living room and hugged Louis as well but not as enthusiastic as the twins had. For a while they sat on the couch and watched cartoons, Louis made sure to ask them how their days had been and how school was going. It was nice to be with the girls because he didn't have to think about what had occurred at swim practice.

Dinner was delicious and Louis actually made it through the whole meal without thinking about swim practice. By the time they were finished eating and cleaning up it was time for the girls to go to bed. Louis helped his mom get the twins ready for bed and when they were finally asleep he joined his mom in the living room to watch the news. Sadly without the distraction of his sisters Louis' mind quickly returned to thinking about Harry and the whole drowning incident. Louis couldn't help it but his mind seemed to only want to think about how his lips had felt on Harry's. When he had been saving Harry he hadn't realized how soft his lips were but now that the danger was passed that was all he could think about. _'Why am I thinking about his lips?' _Louis questioned himself. He had never thought about Harry's lips before and now it was all he could think about. Louis felt his pocket vibrate and he was grateful for the distraction. He pulled out his phone and checked who the message was from.

From Eleanor:

How are you doing babe? We haven't talked about what happened yet. Are you okay?

Louis felt suddenly guilty. He had completely forgotten how much Eleanor had been involved as well. Not only had Louis forgotten to talk to girlfriend for the whole afternoon but to make it worse he was thinking about his best mates lips instead of hers. Louis face must have been giving away how hard he was thinking because Jay was concerned.

"Are you okay Boobear?" She questioned softly. Louis looked up to meet his mothers eyes. How could he explain what he was feeling when he didn't even know himself? '_I can at least tell her what happened. I don't have to tell her the whole emotional mess yet.' _Louis decided.

"Well today at swim practice," Louis started. He didn't say anything else though because his attention was suddenly captured by the news anchor. She had just barely said his name and neither Louis or Jay were expecting that.

"At East High today a brave Louis Tomlinson reportedly saved one of his swim team members life after he had fallen into the pool and had been knocked unconscious. Young Mr. Tomlinson dived straight away into the pool and rescued his team mate. Louis Tomlinson had been trained in CPR and he used his skills to save his friends life. Harry Styles, the young man who had nearly drowned, was admitted to the hospital this afternoon and had been checked out within the next couple of hours with no reported brain injury," Louis breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the news woman say that Harry didn't have any brain trauma. "Unfortunately Louis was not at the hospital or we would have interviewed him but we did get a brief chance to talk with Harry before he left."

The TV switched from the scene at the newsroom to a clip of Harry getting ready to get into a car. He had stopped to talk to the interviewer and you could tell he was a bit uncomfortable talking to him. You could hear the interviewer from behind the camera say, "Harry, what happened today at the pool?"

"I slipped and fell into the pool and hit my head." Harry stated flatly.

"So who was it that rescued you?" The interviewer asked.

"My friend Louis." Harry said, shuffling awkwardly.

"What would you say to him right now if he was here?" The interviewer continued.

"Thank you," Harry said simply. "I love you man and I can't believe you saved my life."

"Anything else you would like to add?'" The interviewer pressed.

"Not really," Harry said and that was the end of the conversation. The scene switched back to the woman reporter whose face was plastered with a huge grin.

"Well, we all at the station would just like to say good job to Louis Tomlinson. It was a great thing that you did today." She smiled largely and that was the end of the segment on the almost drowning. The news then switched over to the weather and Louis and his mom sat quietly as they both processed what had just been on the news. Jay was the first to break the silence.

"I'm so proud of you!" She beamed and hugged Louis. "My little Boobear is a hero!" She exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me when you got home?" She questioned kindly.

"I don't know mom," Louis blushed at his mom's praise. "I just didn't know what to say."

"That's okay honey," she coed and ran her fingers through Louis' soft brown hair. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks mom." Louis said smiling. They sat on the couch and Louis told her what had happened. He made sure to not let on how confused he was with his emotions while he told the story. He didn't need her questioning him about that yet. His mother was completely supportive of anything he did but he didn't want her asking question that he himself didn't know the answer too. It was getting late now and Louis was desperate to escape to his bedroom where he could think by himself. He kissed his mom good night and left to be on his own.

When Louis was done getting ready for bed he slid under his covers and stared at the ceiling, thinking. It seemed that Louis mind was just as determined as it had been earlier to think about one thing and one thing only. Harry's lips. _'Ahhhh what's wrong with me! Why am I thinking about his lips? It's not like we kissed or anything. I just gave him CPR. There wasn't anything romantic or anything like that. Why can't I get them out of my head. Those soft, cherry red lips, their faint taste of chlorine, the way our mouths fit perfe-' _Louis tried to stop himself from thinking the words but he just couldn't. _'the way our mouths fit perfectly together, the way Harry's skin felt beneath my fingers. OMG STOP!'_

"Ahhh," Louis groaned, flipping over and reaching for his phone to distract himself. Immediate guilt filled Louis again after he unlocked his phone and saw the message from Eleanor was still there. He quickly replied.

From Louis

I'm fine and I'm sorry I haven't replied. I've just got a lot on my mind.

Louis forced his eyes closed and tried to sleep. Every time his thoughts would drift to Harry he would immediately pinch himself to stop his thoughts. He just couldn't deal with them right now, he was still too confused and shocked at what had happened. Eventually Louis became exhausted enough from not thinking about Harry that he drifted off to sleep. Louis' soft breathing filled his room, signaling that he was finally asleep.

Two blocks North of Louis' house Harry was lying in bed thinking as well. His only problem was that he didn't know what to think. Louis had saved his life and Harry was really confused about his emotions at the moment. He knew he was grateful, beyond grateful. Harry would do practically anything for Louis now, that's how much he appreciated that Louis had saved him. There was more to it though. Harry was feeling grateful however, he was also feeling something so much more than merely being thankful. He just couldn't place his finger on what it was. This mysterious emotion that Harry couldn't seem to understand was what was keeping him up.

_'I'm still shocked about what happened,' _Harry tried assuring himself. _'There's nothing else going on here, I'm just shocked,' _He was being unsuccessful with trying to convince himself. _'Louis is such a great guy!' _Harry's gratitude was making a comeback. _'I can't believe he gave me CPR. I can't believe his lips were on mine.' _Harry's thoughts had strayed exactly where Louis' had been moments before. Subconsciously Harry's hand snaked up under his blankets and found his lips. Absentmindedly Harry stroked gently over his lips, trying to recall what it had felt like with Louis' lips there. Harry had been unconscious the whole time that Louis' lips had been touching his own and that was why he didn't remember the feeling at all.

_'I wonder what they feel like. I bet they are soft and great,' _Harry was now curious. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. Now that he wanted to know what Louis' lips felt like he was going to be craving to taste them until he got what he wanted. _'Oh shit.' _Harry knew he was in trouble. _'How am I going to be able to kiss Louis again? Wait what am I thinking?' _Harry was taken aback by where his thoughts had led. _'Louis is my best mate. I shouldn't be thinking these things.' _Harry tried to tell himself. _'Louis is a great guy and he probably doesn't even want to kiss me... Okay he didn't technically kiss me but his mouth had been on mine. He probably doesn't want that again. I can't make him kiss me, I love him to much to force him into something like that.' _Harry was shocked. _'I love Louis?' _It sounded strange in his head.

"I love Louis." Harry said aloud to try and make the sentence make more sense. It didn't help at all. _'I love Louis? Of coarse I love him. He's my best friend. I love him like a brother,' _but that was lie. The feelings that Harry was experiencing right now were definitely not meant for a brother. _'I love Louis as a person? Yes that's it, I love Louis for Louis, he has a great personality, great smile, great ass... What?' _Harry was now a little more than confused. _'Why had I thought that? Because it's true,' _the little voice in the back of Harry's conscious whispered. _'Okay yeah Louis has a great ass I'll admit it then. Who cares though. A lot of people have good asses.' _Harry tried to justify his thoughts once more but the inner part of him that knew the truth, the truth that he was desperately trying to ignore, would not shut up. His innermost self was determined to make Harry realize the truth., _'People may have nice asses but they just aren't Louis. He is beyond amazing. I love Louis more than I could ever love a friend.' _Harry tried to ignore the truth that he was slowly starting to realize.

_'AHHH I can't take this anymore!' _Harry tried to drown out his mind's thoughts. His day had been shit and he didn't need these confusing emotions making it any harder. He rolled over in his bed and pulled the blankets so they were loosely around him. Closing his eyes forcefully he tried block out all of his emotions and thoughts. He wrestled with himself for a bit before he successful cleared everything to do with Louis from his mind, or so he thought.

_'I'm screwed, I'm not going to be able to resist Louis now.' _Harry admitted to himself before he drifted off and dreamed dreams of Louis in which everything was perfect. He was with Louis and they were happy. Everything was perfect in his dreams. In reality though it was a completely different story.


	4. Chapter 4

Is This... Chapter 4

The next two weeks were almost unbearably awkward for the boys. Louis and Harry barely talked anymore in class because it was just too weird. Every time Harry opened his mouth he was terrified he was going to say something about his growing emotions for Louis. So whenever he did speak, he made sure the conversation was about as entertaining as watching grass grow. Louis had a problem with Harry talking as well. The difference was though that Louis didn't want to have to turn and look at Harry when he talked. Every time Harry had said anything to Louis he immediately gained his attention. Without meaning to Louis would always turn to look at his best friend. It was common courtesy to look at your friends when they talked right? Well it isn't very courteous to stare at their lips and dimples the whole time they are talking is it? That was exactly what Louis was doing. He just couldn't resist imagining what Harry's lips had felt like every time that he tried to chat with him. He instantly would stare at Harry's mouth and fantasize about kissing him again. _'It wasn't a kiss,' _Louis would have to remind himself constantly. It scared Louis how often he thought about kissing Harry, his best friend. You just don't kiss your best friend. Louis was so confused about what he was feeling and he simply didn't want to deal with it. So yes, it was better when they didn't talk.

At swimming it was even easier to avoid talking to each other. Louis was still in the fastest lane and Harry was not. Harry had been moving up very fast though. Within the first week of practice he had been moved to Paul's lane and had left Coach Teasdale's lanes behind. At the end of the second week he was in Coach Higgins' middle lane and was probably going to move up soon. Progress like Harry's was almost unheard of. No one knew how he was doing it. Not even Harry. He just had this amazing drive to keep going and work harder. Subconsciously though Harry was desperate to be with Louis. That was what was driving him to become faster and faster. Without even knowing what inspired his actions, Harry was trying to improve just so that he could be closer to Louis. It would be quite romantic if either of the boys knew about it. Working hard to be closer to the one you loved. Doesn't that sound romantic to you? Sadly both Louis and Harry were still confused about their feelings for each other and it was going to be a while before Louis understood his.

Harry was starting to understand his emotions though. After many sleepless nights of thinking Harry had slowly started to realize what he was feeling in the pit of his stomach and what burned in his heart whenever he thought about Louis. Harry was too scared to even think that it was love, instead he speculated that it was admiration. He though he admired Louis character. He thought he admired how Louis was always up for a laugh, how he always was able to cheer Harry up, how Louis was a great person. Silly Harry didn't realize that it was love. He loved Louis for how he was always ready to listen to and crack a joke. Harry loved how Louis was always able to cheer him up. Harry loved Louis and he was slowly but surely starting to realize this.

_'Faster!' _Harry urged himself as he started swimming at a full out sprint. _'Faster, faster!' _Harry told himself and he tried to banish his current thoughts of Louis from his mind. Swimming was a great way to clear your head Harry had come to realize. You had to focus the whole time you swam or else you would end up drowning. This was perfect for Harry and Louis both. When they swam it took too much concentration for either of them to think about each other. Harry swam up to the wall and touched it with the tips of his fingers before moving out of the way to allow the swimmer behind him to finish the set as well. After all seven people in the lane had finished and touched the wall Coach Higgins' motioned for them to get out of the pool and come talk to him where he was leaning against the wall observing their swimming.

"Great job today. I'm really impressed how hard you are all are working.," Paul praised. "I would say go home but I think coach Cowell has something to say so go wait over in the stands for him." Whenever team meetings were held they all sat in the stands that looked down on the pool. Harry walked by himself over to the benches and sat away from the majority of the swimmers. Not because he wanted to, it's just that not many people in his lane wanted to sit next to him. They were extremely jealous of how good Harry was and so when they did talk to Harry they weren't the nicest. Harry understood it though. If he had been swimming his whole life and some newb came in his senior year and started swimming and was even better than he was, he would be pretty upset as well. It would suck to see years of practice and dedication be beat by someone who was just really talented. The swimmers were all kind enough but they just couldn't help being a little spiteful in their jealousy. So Harry sat on his bench, twiddling his thumbs until the other lanes were done. Coach Teasdale's swimmers finished next and came and joined them in the stands. They were quickly followed by Simon's lanes and Harry was joined by Louis and the rest of their group of friends. Harry was extremely happy when Louis sat next to him out of habit but Harry would never have admitted that out loud. He might as well have because his face lit up in a smile that could power a small town for a week and Zayn was sure to comment.

"Someone's' happy to see Louis," Zayn teased. Harry blushed a tad before rotating his head and staring at Zayn. Zayn was sitting in between Niall and Liam and he looked quite content himself.

"You're one to talk. To me it looks like your a little man slut with Liam and Niall draped all around you," Harry retorted.

"Oi, leave me out of this," Liam said after hearing Harry's comment. "I am quite happy being with Danielle, I don't need Zayn as my man slut. Although he wouldn't be that bad of one." Liam said his last sentence with a thoughtful expression.

"Liam!" Zayn said shocked.

"Sorry it just came out. I can't help it sometimes when I'm thinking. I just say what's on my mind," Liam admitted. He really did look apologetic. "Sorry Zayn for offending you. I know you only got hots for yourself," Liam teased and ruffled Zayn's hair as he said it. "Don't worry, I don't want you as my man slut." Liam finished with a smile.

"I do!" Niall said with enthusiasm, finally joining the conversation about how Zayn was his man whore. "He is probably great it bed!" Niall said jokingly and poked Zayn in the sides. Zayn's cheeks turned the darkest shade of red that Harry had ever seen. With nothing else to say Zayn said.

"I know I'm great in bed." Zayn bragged.

"Oh really?" Niall said and popped his gum. Ever since Niall had gotten his braces off he had constantly been chewing gum. Any flavor would do, as long as Niall was able to chew it he didn't care what brand, flavor, color, nothing. Apparently it was also helping him eat less. Niall was notorious for eating all the time and supposedly the gum helped curb his appetite. Quite recently he had acquired a habit that almost everyone detested. Popping his gum. It was the most annoying sound ever and it got on almost everyone's. At this moment Zayn didn't seem fazed by it though.

"I have been told by a little someone that I am great in bed," Zayn grabbed Niall's cheek and pinched it slightly. "So don't be jealous now."

"Oh is that so. Well I have been told by a certain someone that I am fantastic in bed, not just great." Niall said and pinched Zayn's cheek with considerably more force than he had to him.

"Oh!" Zayn exclaimed but he didn't get to finish his complaints because that was when Simon arrived and started their meeting.

"You love birds can stop fighting now," Simon said with the straightest face on Earth to Niall and Zayn. Everyone could tell his was teasing, well apparently everyone but them. This time Zayn wasn't the only one to blush. Niall's blush appeared to beat Zayn's earlier blush for brightness. Probably because Niall's white face flushed a lot more easily than Zayn's naturally tan skin. Either way both of them shut up really quickly and pulled their hands off each others faces. "Well now that that is taken care of," Simon continued. "I would like to announce that three days from now, Friday for those who don't know, there will be a team party." Everyone cheered loud and hard. After they had calmed down Simon continued. " The party is going to be organized by our team captain, Louis Tomlinson."

"What!" Louis shouted. Everyone laughed even louder than they had cheered. "Thanks for telling me last minute. I have no idea how I'm going to organize a party this fast," Louis grumbled.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Simon said with a smile. "Anyways, good job today everyone. Go home and sleep, eat, whatever you guys do." With that everyone was excused. Swimmers started heading to the showers but Harry and Louis' group of friends stayed to chat.

"Want some help with the party babe." Eleanor said and grabbed Louis hand.

"Nah I got this." Louis declined and they chatted for a bit about really nothing. Everybody split up; Niall was going over to Zayn's to get some help with math, Liam and Danielle were going on a date, Eleanor had a study group with a few people from the swim team, and Louis had to go home and plan his party. That left Harry alone. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little hurt that Louis didn't want him to come over. _'He didn't even invite his girlfriend. Why would he want me there?' _Harry sighed and left to go shower.

Those three days till Friday blazed by and before Louis knew it people were showing up at his house where the party would be held. Louis plan for the party was pretty simple. Well not really a party anymore because he had gotten permission from his mother and the whole swim team was invited to spend the night at his house. Keep in mind that was like 60 kids. Of coarse most of them had declined and were going home after they partied a bit but that still left about 10 people that Louis needed to find a place for them to sleep. So in the backyard he had set up several tents that he had borrowed from his neighbors, 2 for the boys and 3 tents for the girls. If there still wasn't enough room Louis had a very lovely tramp in his backyard that he would invite people to sleep on with him.

The party was smashing and everybody surely had a blast. They started out with playing all sorts of games down in Louis' spacious living room that ranged from card games, video games and to the insane amount of board games that Louis' little sisters possessed. Louis seemed to play twister a lot that night, especially with Harry. Strange. After everyone had had their fun with the games they ate dinner that was cooked by several of the swim team member's parents in the kitchen upstairs. Louis' house was much to small for everybody to be able to eat inside so they ate outside in the yard. Soon people became fascinated with his trampoline and Louis couldn't help but show off. Louis was very good at doing all sorts of flips and tricks on the tramp. He did flip after flip for what seemed like an hour but was really only fifteen minutes before he became tired.

"Lets go start a movie!" Louis said breathless. By this time there was only about 25 swimmers left at the party after the others had left for various reasons. Either way Louis was grateful because they were barely able to fit everybody still there downstairs to watch the Lion King. Most people laid on the floor in groups, chatting and not even watching the movie. Harry however was very concentrated on watching the film. It was either watch the movie or deal with the sudden butterflies he had in his stomach and the sweet burning sensation that had taken over the left half of his body where Louis was leaned against him. Harry was grateful for Louis' couch. Louis couch was big but not big enough to fit everybody who wanted to sit/sleep/relax on it. Therefore, they all tried to squish on it which ended up with Louis practically sitting on Harry's lap. Louis adjusted his position and leaned more into Harry to get more comfortable. Yes, Harry was very grateful for Louis' couch. Harry was also very grateful that Eleanor wasn't there for he was sure that Eleanor would be the one in Louis' lap instead of Louis in his. Thankfully Eleanor's uncle had died. Okay that's not a good thing but it still kept Eleanor away from the party and on a flight to Texas.

When the movie was over Louis got up and stretched, arching his back and stretching very similar to a cat if a cat could stand up. Harry was very sad when Louis moved. He had been enjoying the feeling and warmth of Louis next to him even though he had been trying not to think about their proximity the whole movie. Harry was soon happy again because Louis grabbed his hand and pulled him up from his sitting position on the couch.

"Help me get everyone to their tents." Louis said rather than asked.

"Yes your majesty." Harry teased and received a grin from Louis for his efforts. It took a bit but eventually everyone worked out where they were sleeping. Zayn and Niall claimed a tent and Liam and a freshman who Louis vaguely recalled was named Phillip took the other boys tent. Danielle and the remaining five girls split themselves up and filled the remaining tents. As Louis had predicted there wasn't enough room so Harry and himself were stuck with sleeping on the tramp.

"Don't worry Harry I got plenty of blankets," Louis said and ran inside to grab them. While he was inside he changed into his pajamas and it seemed like Harry did as well because when he went back outside with two blankets and pillows Harry was already sitting in the middle of the tramp, clothes changed, and was starring up at the stars that were slowly appearing as the sunlight faded and the sky darkened. The boys wrapped themselves up in their blankets and tried to get as comfortable as possible. Given that they were sleeping on a tramp they didn't really have that much success. They kept sliding to the middle and Louis and Harry eventually both gave up trying to scoot away and adjusted themselves so they weren't disturbing the other.

"So..." Harry began awkwardly trying to break the silence. "Nice stars huh?"

"Yah I guess," Louis replied back quietly so they didn't disturb the other swimmers who were sleeping by now.

"Um you wanna talk about anything?" Harry questioned. He didn't know what to say but he had to say something. He was sick of not talking to Louis. It had been unbearable not talking to Louis for the past two weeks. Ever since the incident Harry had put up barriers so that he could sort out his feelings and it seemed as if Louis was being just as distant.

"Sure but you have to think of something to talk about. My brain is fried from all the stuff we did today," Louis said. Harry didn't know what to talk about. What was there to talk about? All he wanted to talk about was how confused he was right now but he couldn't talk to Louis about that because he was the problem.

"I'm not really sure what to talk about," Harry admitted.

"Me either," Louis said and he couldn't hide the disappointment that colored his tone as he said those words. "I guess we can talk tomorrow then."

"Sure," Harry agreed quickly. He wished he hadn't though as Louis rolled away from him and curled up in a ball, clearly ending the conversation. Withing minutes Harry heard Louis' soft breathing that signaled that he was asleep. Harry stayed up for the next hour thinking. Thinking about Louis, thinking about his feelings towards Louis, and thinking about what Louis would say if he admitted some of his feelings for him. Harry's mind was entirely focused on Louis at that moment.

_'What is this feeling?' _Harry replayed the question in his head. He was afraid he knew what it was. Harry was in denial though, he couldn't bring himself to think about it for more than a couple seconds before dismissing it as a silly thought. _'There is no way I am in love with Louis Tomlinson.' _Harry tried to convince himself. He wasn't that successful. Over the next hour Harry thought about what if he was 'hypothetically' in love with Louis. _'He would never love me.' _Harry's thoughts were painful, they ripped apart his soul as he thought about how Louis would never be with him. _'He has Eleanor, they're perfect together.' _Harry's heart felt like it was ripping with every new reason he thought of why him and Louis would never be together, hypothetically of coarse. The list was quite long, although many of the reasons were centered around the fact that Louis had a girlfriend and the other fact that Louis was straight. Even though most of Harry's reasoning was bullshit it still hurt him. Harry felt like he was about to start crying after he tried to convince himself for the twentieth time that him and Louis would never be together when his convincing was interrupted by a sound. _'What was that?' _

Harry stopped breathing as he focused on hearing that sound again. After a few tense moments he heard it again and realized what it was. Louis teeth were chattering. _'It's not even that cold though,' _Harry thought before he realized how much thicker his blanket was then Louis. _'He gave me the thicker blanket,'_ Harry was tearing up at this. He didn't really know why though, there was no need to cry. It just really touched something deep in Harry's heart that Louis had given him the thicker blanket so he could stay warm.

Harry moved by instinct, wrapping his blanket and himself around Louis to stop his chattering. Almost instantly Louis' body relaxed from it's tense state as it was introduced to more heat. Louis was asleep but his body responded and snuggled up to Harry for his warmth. Harry was a little taken aback. At first he thought Louis was awake when he moved closer to Harry but then Harry calmed down as heard Louis' soft breathing still and realized he was still sleeping.

Hesitantly Harry reached his arm around Louis and pulled him into his chest. He didn't want to wake Louis but he needed to be closer to him for some reason. Louis took the new position well though and Harry didn't have to worry. Louis' whole body relaxed into Harry's and he started breathing deeper, his sleep finally becoming regular now that he was in Harry's warm embrace. Harry was so happy at that moment,e felt like he was on top of the world. He felt like he could do anything, be anything, as long as Louis stayed in his arms.

"I love you," Harry whispered softly into the night as he pulled Louis even closer to him. _'I... I love Louis...' _Harry couldn't believe it. Then again he could. He had just said it out loud and had meant what he had said. He loved Louis. Harry would have spent more time thinking about what he had just declared except he heard a soft voice speaking.

"I love you too," Louis sleepy voice replied back. Harry was in shock. Literally his heart stopped for several seconds as he processed what Louis had just said.

"Lou?" Harry asked, uncertainty thick in his voice. Harry waited for several seconds and didn't get a response. _'He's asleep, he didn't mean it,' _Harry automatically told himself. He couldn't get his hopes up. There was no way Louis loved him and now that Harry had finally admitted that he loved Louis he was going to have to hide it forever. He couldn't ruin his friendship with Louis. If he couldn't have a relationship with Louis he had to at least be his friend. Harry would not be able to function without Louis in his life somehow and he knew that now.


	5. Chapter 5

Is This... Chapter 5

_'Why is everything so white?' _Louis wondered when he first woke up. He looked around him and saw that he was surrounded by snow all the way to the horizon. Louis looked to the sky and saw that it was full of angry gray clouds as far as the eyes could see. There wasn't a soul in sight and Louis was alone.

"Hello?" Louis called hesitantly into his surroundings. What if someone was here? What would he do? Louis stood up from his sitting position and shivered. It was cold and Louis hands started turning purple as he walked around looking for someone. After ten minutes of aimlessly wandering Louis concluded that he was the only person here.

"HELLO!" Louis shouted desperately. His feet and hands had turned blue and his thin gray shirt and shorts were not keeping him warm. Louis hugged his arms to his chest to try and preserve heat as he started sprinting through his lifeless surroundings. He needed to find heat or else he would die out here as a human ice cube. Louis ran for what felt like hours, getting colder and colder as he ran.

When Louis was completely out of energy he collapsed onto the ground and got a face full of the horrible white stuff. He curled up into a tight ball and tried to hold himself together as he felt his conscious slipping. Suddenly Louis was warmer though.

_'I'm dying,' _Louis told himself. _'I've heard before that you get warm right before you die, you forget about the cold. At least I'm warm now.' _Louis smiled because he was happy, he wasn't freezing anymore and that was all that mattered to Louis. He didn't care if he died, as long as he wasn't cold anymore. Louis stayed there and accepted his fate that he was dying.

Louis would have stayed in that ball and passed away if his death hadn't been rudely interrupted by a bright light tickling his eyelids. Louis cracked his eyes open and couldn't believe what he saw.  
About twenty yards away and walking towards Louis was an angel. The angel was tall with curly brown hair and he glowed like the sun. His wings and halo were golden and what were giving off the blinding light. Louis could feel where he was lying on the ground the heat that the stranger was radiating.

Louis found himself standing up with energy he didn't believe he possessed. This strange angel inspired hope in Louis and his new hope had moved Louis to his feet. The angel stepped closer to Louis and opened his arms, welcoming Louis to run into them and run he did. Louis closed the distance between himself and the brown headed stranger and leaped into his arms. Louis was moving to fast and his momentum forced him and the stranger to the ground but he didn't care and neither did the angel.

Louis was in ecstasy. When Louis had started dying he thought he was warm but he had been sadly mistaken. Now he felt like he was on fire but without the pain. The warmth that is curly angel gave Louis was the greatest gift that Louis had ever received. Louis pulled the angel in closer to his body and he nearly screamed because of how happy he was.

"I love you," the angel spoke in a deep gravely voice.

"I love you too," Louis replied instantly. Who wouldn't love this angel? Louis was positive that he would never love someone as much as he loved this angel right now. Louis would die a happy man if he could spend the rest of time in this stranger's arms. Louis took in a deep breath and was shocked. He knew that smell that the angel gave off. This angel smelled just like his best friend Harry. Without thinking about his action Louis reached up and ran his fingers through the strangers hair. It felt just like running his hands through Harry's hair. Oh well, he loved running his fingers through Harry's curls and he loved Harry so it seemed to fit that the angel would be Harry.

It didn't even phase Louis when he thought about how much he loved this angel and how much he loved Harry. If Louis didn't know better he would say the angel was Harry but that was silly though, Harry wasn't an angel. _'I'll just pretend it's Harry then.' _Louis told himself so that his love could be placed onto someone he knew instead of a random stranger. Louis felt himself nodding off. All of the running he had done that day had wiped him out and he was exhausted and needed to sleep. Louis wrapped his arms tighter around Harry the angel and pulled him closer to his chest to get even more warmth. Louis slept soundly after that, falling into his slumber with a smile on his face.

When Louis woke up for real, saying he was surprised would be an understatement. He was still in the angels arms, but this time it wasn't a dream. Louis woke up slowly and stayed where he was, he was warm and he was content at staying still. That was, until, he felt the pressure on his sides. Louis was not used to the feeling of waking up in someones arms so when he woke up in Harry's it was a completely new experience for him.

Louis slowly cracked open his eyes and looked down to see Harry's arms around his body. He sat there for a moment, absorbing the fact that he was practically spooning with Harry. Louis slowly exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding. As he inhaled his chest rose and Louis felt his back lightly press against Harry's chest. Louis would be lying if said he didn't enjoy it a little.

He shouldn't have enjoyed it though. _'I have a girlfriend,' _Louis scolded himself. He shouldn't enjoy being pressed against Harry, he shouldn't enjoy the feeling of his best friend holding him like this, and he most definitely not want to stay where he was forever. But he did.

Louis didn't want to move so he simply didn't. He closed his eyes and tried to drift back off to his dreams with the angel. Then again he was practically living his dream right now. He was well rested though so he did not fall back asleep, instead he started coming to his senses that he so desperately wanted to ignore. Louis started feeling guilty for laying there. He shouldn't be enjoying it as much as he was and how would Eleanor feel about this. She would probably be heartbroken and Louis loved her too much to put her through that.

Louis listened to Harry's soft quiet breathing that was tickling his ear. Harry's chest pressed against Louis back every time he breathed in and Louis loved the feeling, even though he shouldn't. _'What's wrong with me?' _Louis questioned himself. What was he feeling. He had never thought about Harry like he was now. What was this feeling? _'Is this... happiness?' _Louis thought. That was what it was. Louis was happier in Harry's arms then he had been in a long time.

Louis happiness was soon interrupted. Louis heard a sound coming from Zayn and Niall's tent and he knew they were up.

"Morning," Louis heard Zayn mumble sleepily.

"Good morning to you too," Niall replied to Zayn in a cheery voice and Louis could imagine the wide grin that spread across his face.

"Hmmm," Zayn mumbled back and Louis heard something he had never imagined he would hear that caused him to open his eyes wide in disbelief. Coming from Niall and Zayn's tent Louis heard what was unmistakably the sound of a kiss. Not the wet make-out sound but more like a quick peck on the lips.

"Ay," Niall said in a quiet voice that Louis had to strain his ears to hear. "We can't."

"I know," Zayn replied with a sigh. Louis was still in shock as he heard the tent being unzipped and he had to hurry to try and regain the illusion that he was sleeping. He must have been successful because as Niall and Zayn emerged from the tent he heard them chuckle.

"Don't they look cute," Niall said, sounding like an emotional mother that had just seen her daughter off on her first date.

"Not as cute as you," Zayn replied and Louis heard him give Niall a kiss on the cheek.

"Zayn seriously," Niall gasped.

"It's okay. Everyone is asleep," Zayn tried to assure him. Unfortunately for them that was not the case. Louis tried to process this new information as best he could but he was having difficulties. Zayn and Niall were a thing and no one knew it. _'How long have they been hiding this?' _Louis wondered. This was the first time he was ever learning about it and he was pretty sure nobody else knew.

"Sorry I just don't want anyone to find out yet. What will they say?" Niall murmured. He sounded genuinely scared and it broke Louis heart. He didn't think that people would support his and Zayn's relationship and that seemed silly to Louis. He would support Niall no matter what. Then again, if him and Harry were in a gay relationship he probably wouldn't want people to know about it either.

_'What am I thinking? Me and Harry will never be in a relationship. I'm in a relationship with Eleanor for crying out loud!' _Louis couldn't stop the thoughts swimming through his head. Luckily for him, Zayn and Niall were being a good distraction to Louis' thought and feelings.

"I know babe, it's okay." Zayn assured his boyfriend. "Let's grab a camera and get a picture of them." Niall dived back into the tent and searched for his phone and pulled it out. They took multiple pictures from the sounds of buttons being pressed. "Send one to them," Zayn encouraged Niall.

"Okay," Niall replied and he must have sent one of the many pictures that would be used later on as blackmail.

Louis heard his phone vibrate underneath the tramp where it was tucked into his shoes. He had got the picture. Apparently Harry slept with his phone in his pocket. Well that was what Louis assumed from the vibrating that was currently massaging his right butt cheek.

Louis couldn't help it but he jumped. If your butt was suddenly being assaulted by a phone you would jump to. Louis sudden movement made Harry jerk awake suddenly.

"Wait what!" Harry said as he looked around quickly. He jerked around a bit and his arms slipped from Louis' side. He was only barely awake and his eyes were still heavy with sleep. Poor Harry was still confused as he spotted Niall and Zayn cracking up next the the tramp.

"Oh nothing," Niall said in between laughs. "You guys are just too cute." Harry tried to process what Niall had said.

"Huh?" Harry said sleepily and he wrapped his arms once again around Louis for no apparent reason. "Oh sorry," Harry said and withdrew his arms from around Louis.

"It's all good," Louis said even though it wasn't. Louis was currently furious with Niall and Zayn for ruining his moment with Harry but mostly Louis was just sad that Harry's arms were no longer around him. Louis tried to suppress his sudden sense of losing something and his feelings of sadness and longing as he plastered a fake morning smile to his face.

"What's up?" Louis said to Niall and Zayn, looking them over with new eyes thanks to being enlightened about their relationship. Niall seemed to sense something was up and looked uncomfortable as he replied to Louis.

"Oh nothing much but you and Harry make an adorable couple." Niall teased.

"Oh piss off," Harry said while rubbing his eyes to get the night boogers out. Zayn laughed in response and him and Niall went inside to get some water. When they left Harry and Louis started gathering up their blankets to take them inside.

"Hey," Louis tried to start a conversation.

"Hey," Harry replied simply. "Sorry about the whole sleeping thing. You were cold last night and..." He trailed off lamely.

"No no no it's okay. Thanks for keeping me warm," Louis replied. Harry felt no need to reply so they gathered their stuff up in friendly silence and took it all inside.

Louis found himself sitting in his room all by his lonesome on Sunday afternoon. He had done absolutely nothing today and was just waiting for Eleanor to call him. The funeral had been on Saturday and she had spent the night in Texas and had flown back this morning. Louis was waiting for Eleanor to call him when she got home like she had promised she would. He didn't have to wait long.

"Hello," Louis answered his phone cheerfully.

"Hey Louis," Eleanor replied, she sounded tired.

"You okay?" Louis asked, his cheerfully had all but evaporated.

"Yah, um, can you meet me at the park in half an hour?" Eleanor asked in her tired voice again. Louis felt guilty. Did Eleanor know about his sleeping with Harry? She might but why would that make her mad? It's not like it was that big of a deal.

"Sure babe. Is everything okay?" Louis said hesitantly.

"Everything's fine. I just feel like we need to talk." She replied.

"I will meet you at the park in half hour okay?"

"Thanks Louis." Eleanor said and with that she hung up. Louis sat on his bed, not really knowing what to do. With out anything better to do Louis decided to get to the park a little early. Louis put on some shoes and walked out the door and down the block. Three blocks away there was a local park that their group of friends liked to hang out at on occasions. As Louis made his way to the park he couldn't help the sense of dread that was building in his stomach.

When Louis finally got to the small park he looked around for a good place to sit. There was the playground with all of it's slides and monkey bars but Louis didn't think that would be a good place to chat. Of to side there was a dining area with tables and benches. That would have been an okay place to talk but it just seemed so dark and boring to Louis that he decided he didn't want to sit there either. So that left him with the swing sets. They would be an okay place to talk with Eleanor and plus, Louis would be entertained until she got here.

With that Louis made his way over to the swing set and sat down on one of the old plastic seats and starting swinging himself back and worth, back and worth. Louis contemplated while he swung what Eleanor could possibly want to talk about. On the phone she hadn't sounded to happy and that made Louis fear a little of what she wanted to talk about. Louis didn't have to spend much time alone with his thoughts because within a couple of minutes he saw Eleanor approaching the swing set.

"Hey," She said as she took the swing next to Louis and started to swing so that she could get as high as he was.

"Hey back," Louis replied and stopped rocking back and forth so that they could actually have a conversation without being constantly in motion. They sat there quietly for a couple of minutes. Their swinging completely stopped. It seemed that Eleanor did not want to break the silence so Louis decided it would be best if he did. "What do you want to talk about?" He said flatly and outright. Eleanor bit her lip before replying.

"Us,"She said slowly.

"Um okay?" Louis said questionably. "What about us?" Louis was a a little worried now. Eleanor took a deep breath and explained.

"I love you Louis, you know that," She started off. "Lately though I just don't see a future for us." She said and looked at Louis with sad brown eyes. "We are great great friends and always will be but..." She drew in another deep breath, forcing the words out. "I don't think we should be in a relationship anymore." Louis was stunned. He had not been expecting this at all.

"Wait why though?" Louis said with confustion in his voice. "I thought we were perfect together."

"Louis, we were never perfect. We don't act like we are in a relationship at all. We are more like friends or roommates. We get along just fine and all but there is nothing really intimate between us anymore. I still love you but I feel like we need to move on and see other people.

"Umm okay?" Louis said quietly and more as a question. He knew what Eleanor was talking about but he didn't want to admit it. They didn't act like lovers. They weren't really intimate with each other. They were just like friends, good friends, but friends nonetheless.

"Louis I still love you and I know we are going to still be good friends but I think it's time we stop pretending this is a real relationship. Are you okay Louis?" Eleanor asked because Louis had turned a pale color.

"I'm fine, just absorbing." Louis stated and he really was. The sad thing was though, Louis wasn't too upset about the whole thing like he should have been. Kind of like how he should be worried about developing feelings for Harry and yet he still wasn't. "I know what you mean El." Louis stated and took Eleanor's hands in his as they sat still on their swings. "I know we are still going to be great friends."

"Thanks Lou," Eleanor said and hugged Louis. "I love you and I just want you to be happy and I know you won't be happy with me eventually."

"Wait what are you talking about?" Louis asked. "Why wouldn't I be happy with you?"

"Oh please! This is too good!" Eleanor clapped her hands and laughed. "You may not know it Lou but you are already in love. I can see it and I'm sure others can too."

"I'm in love!" Louis gasped, "Who with?" Louis challenged.

"You honestly want me to tell you who I know you're in love with?" Eleanor giggled and her eyes lit up with glee.

"Let me think about that," Louis tapped his chin and placed a fake thoughtful expression on his face. "Yes!" Louis nearly shouted in Eleanor's face.

"Fine," She said smugly. "I know for a fact that you are madly in love with Harry."


	6. Chapter 6

Is This... Chapter 6

Louis did a lot of thinking over the next few days about what Eleanor had said. He knew he loved Harry already. He loved him as his best friend but there was no way he loved him more than that. Right? There was no way he could. After many sleepless nights Louis decided to ignore the whole situation and his emotions.

Eleanor and Louis hadn't told anybody yet that they had broken up. They had mutually decided that it would be best to tell everybody in time but at that moment the team didn't need any drama that always came along with a breakup. So two weeks later everybody still thought that Louis and Eleanor were still a thing. It baffled both of them how none of their friends had noticed how they were no longer intimate together. Louis guessed that went to show that they weren't that intimate in the first place.

At the moment Louis was sitting on the bus as everybody else loaded up and got on to head to their swim meet. They were traveling quite far, it was going to take two hours, and Louis was hoping he wouldn't get stuck with some annoying person for the whole ride. Luckily for Louis nobody had yet to sit by him. That was probably because of how intimidating he was at the moment. He was sitting on his seat, about halfway on it, so not really inviting somebody to sit with him. He also had his head resting on the back of the seat with his eyes closed and with his headphones in. As people passed him they didn't really want to disturb him because he looked like he wanted to be alone. So everybody left him alone. It seemed that Louis was going to have the seat to himself and he was grateful for that.

Louis heard and felt the bus start to pull out of the school parking lot and was happy. He was going to be alone with his thoughts the whole ride. That was before he felt a sudden pressure on his penis.

Louis opened his eyes wide to see who dared touch his package. The only problem though was that his vision was suddenly blocked as a whole body was thrown on top of him and he had a mass of curls in his face.

"Oh dude I am so sorry," Harry hurried to apologize. "The bus pulled out and I tripped and fell in your seat. Sorry," He finished as he tried to untangle himself from Louis.

"It's all good," Louis said quietly and with lots of breath for his balls were in a lot of pain from being smashed by Harry.

"Sorry again dude. Um who's sitting with you?" Harry asked.

"No one why?" Louis replied.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" In all honestly Louis didn't really want to sit with Harry. His emotions were all over the place at the moment and Harry was the one to blame. He didn't want to be rude though.

"Sure," Louis said and tried to shuffle over to the window. Harry slid of Louis lap, where he had been the whole conversation, and sat down next to Louis. Louis was a bit uncomfortable because Harry was sitting really close. Their thighs were pressed completely together and Louis couldn't help noticing that there was plenty of room on the seat for Harry to scoot a little farther away. He didn't complain though, he enjoyed the contact even though he shouldn't have.

"Ear bud?" Harry asked and help out his hand expectantly. Louis sighed and handed Harry his left ear bud. Most people would have given Harry their right ear bud seeing as how he was on the left, that way the headphones weren't stretched as far. Louis didn't though. Harry and Louis had come to an agreement years ago that it was easier to listen to music in the farther ear and still have a conversation in their closer ears, if that makes any sense. "What's up?" Harry asked, trying to continue his conversation with Louis. Lately they had become distant and that made Harry quite sad. Louis thought for a moment before replying.

"Eleanor and I broke up," He said it like it was just a simple fact that he was sharing and not the big deal it was to everybody besides the couple that had broken up. Louis had decided it was time to tell Harry. He was his best friend and he should have known by now.

"What!" Harry exclaimed and got several heads to turn to look at them. Louis noticed for the first time that Niall and Zayn were sitting directly in front of him and Danielle and Liam were sitting in the seat to the left of Harry's and his.

"Yah we broke up about two weeks ago," Louis said calmly and quietly. "Calm down!" Louis commanded as he saw Harry was nearly about to jump out of the seat with how much energy he had.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you guys tell people?" Harry questioned. He was slightly hurt that Louis had kept this from him. On the other hand, Harry was extremely happy. Louis was now single and now Harry and Louis could get together. _'Stop it, I'm not going to be with Louis. He doesn't feel the same way about me,' _he told himself and broke his own heart a little as he did so.

"We just didn't want there to be any drama," Louis said simply.

"Oh," Was all Harry replied. What else was there to say? They had broken up. They sat their for a couple of moments in silence. Louis looked around the bus for the first time. Up near the front Louis could see that Eleanor was sitting with Steve, another senior, and was smiling so wide Louis thought her face would break. It seemed that Eleanor was going to be fine and for that Louis was grateful. He didn't need to worry about offending her if he got in a relationship as well. Louis continued his scan of the bus and concluded there was nothing interesting going on besides right in front of him. Niall and Zayn were extremely close it looked like, closer than Harry and Louis were and that was saying something. Niall was leaning his back slightly against Zayn's arm and had his head resting a little against his shoulder. Louis took his earphone out quickly to hear if Niall was snoring and he was, along with Zayn.

"Look," Louis said quietly and nudged Harry. He pointed to Niall's position on Zayn and said, "Do you think anything is going on there?" Louis already knew the answer but he wanted to clue Harry in without actually having to tell him what happened when they were on the tramp. Louis blushed a little as he remembered the dream he had had about Harry when he had been sleeping in his arms. Louis quickly forced himself to forget about it and paid attention to Harry's response. His face scrunched up a bit as he took in the scene before him. He gained a quizzical expression on his face while the thought. After a moment of observing, his face flattened back to its original state and he seemed completely calm as he answered.

"There might be, and there might not. Who knows? Would you have a problem with that though?" Harry asked hesitantly. He was scared that Louis would be repulsed by two males in a relationship. If he was, there was no chance whatsoever for himself and Louis to be together.

"What do you mean? Would I have a problem with what?" Louis didn't really understand Harry's question even though it was so obvious.

"Would you have a problem with Zayn and Niall being together? Would you have a problem with two guys together in general?" Harry said, making his question as plain and simple as possible. Louis wasn't expecting Harry to ask that so he sat in silence for a while, thinking of an acceptable answer.

"No," He started, "I think it would be pretty great if Niall and Zayn were together. They would make a good couple and would be happy together." Louis said. He really was happy for them and completely accepting of their relationship even if they didn't know that Louis was aware of it.

"Let's say it was another couple though, like us maybe. I mean hypothetically and all, would you be okay with two different guys together? Like us?" Harry refused to meet Louis eyes as he asked his question and also refused to look at him as he answered. That was probably a good thing though because Louis mouth was open in complete shock as he starred at Harry's curls and watched as he fiddled with his jacket sleeve uncomfortably.

"Um..." Louis started lamely. "I wouldn't have a problem with it." Louis said and Harry let out his breath he had been holding waiting for Louis to answer. "I think that if I ever, hypothetically," Louis did quoting fingers around hypothetically as he said it, "Fell in love with a guy, like you for example," At mention of himself Harry quickly looked up and met Louis' blue eyes that were staring at him. "I think that if I fell in love with you, I would want our relationship to be accepted by people. Even if they didn't like it, they should at least be nice and acknowledge that we are in love and they have no business in what we do." Louis finished off.

"Me too," Harry said slowly and quietly as he stared Louis in the eyes and tried to figure out what he was thinking through those never ending pools of blue. Harry couldn't stare long though for fear that he would fall even farther in love with Louis as he stared into those innocent aqua eyes. Harry cleared his throat and leaned a little away from Louis, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable with their positions, especially after a conversation like they had just had. They both decided it would be best not to talk for a bit and so they didn't. Instead they listened to Louis' music and thought to themselves about what was gong on. Harry thought about how in love he was with Louis, while Louis was thinking about whether Eleanor was right or not. Could he be falling in love with Harry, or was he already in love? His iPod seemed determined to not help the situation either. "Kiss Me," by Ed Sheeran came on the shuffle and Louis couldn't help listening to the lyrics and thinking about Harry. Harry was thinking about Louis as well while the song played and he instantly fell in love with the song and Louis all over again.

When they arrived at the swim meet everyone was excited. It was their first competition of the year and everybody was looking forward to it but no one was as excited as Harry. He hadn't ever been officially timed in his events and he was looking forward to finally know around how fast he was.

The whole team made their way to the school after gathering their swim bags from under the bus. The school was quite quaint. Jackson High wasn't known for how great their school's campus was, they were mostly known for their drama department. They had some of the best actors and musicians in the state. Another thing that they weren't known for was their athletics department. Their sports teams weren't all that good but that didn't mean that the team could swim easily against them. The East High swim team was going to have to give it their all to beat Jackson High because they were all still pretty slow. It was the beginning of the season and nobody had really got back to their previous speeds from last season.

Louis tried not to think about how the team was counting on him. It just made him nervous to think about how he was needed to place very high in the 100 Backstroke, the 200 IM, and in the Medley and Freestyle Relays. So instead Louis distracted himself by staring at Harry's ass as he walked towards the schools pool. It was a nice ass, not that large but still there and what was he thinking about! Louis blushed a deep red as he realized what he had been staring at for the past minute. Louis quickly looked around to make sure nobody had caught him staring when he froze in horror at the sight of Eleanor looking right at him and laughing her ass off.

"What's so funny?" Steven, her new 'friend', said beside Eleanor.

"Oh nothing, I just remembered something funny," She told him but then gave Louis a very obvious wink. Louis thought he would die of embarrassment but luckily they made it to the pool and he didn't have to try and avoid Eleanor's eyes as he went off to change. He did have to avoid looking at Harry while he changed though. Louis just couldn't help it. He was suddenly very curious about what Harry's body was like.

Louis did manage to catch a few glimpses of Harry's body from across the locker room while Harry changed, even though he didn't want to *wink wink*. Louis had to stop himself several time from drooling as he looked over Harry. His body was to die for. First off, his skin was the perfect shade brown with just his slight tan, it wasn't overdone like some of the hoes from Jersey Shore, yet it wasn't to light. Under his skin though was what impressed Louis. His muscle would be very easy to trace with your fingers because of how defined they were and Louis had to fight the urge he felt to walk over and just grab Harry's bicep. He had to fight the urge he had to lick Harry's six pack even harder though. Louis would never admit it but he started to feel a bit hot in his pants if you know what I mean, so he had to look away. It was a very sad moment for Louis to look away. Eventually Harry left the locker room and Louis rushed to change to join him out by the pool.

When Louis got outside the meet seemed to pass impossibly fast. Warm ups were gone in a blink and within the next minute the Medley was over with and everybody was celebrating how great they had all done by coming in first. In the Medley four people swam all four of the strokes. Louis went first, swimming the backstroke portion of the event. Liam went second, swimming breaststroke. Zayn was third, swimming the butterfly part and Niall finished them off by swimming the freestyle. The boys all did fantastic and won. Louis' 200 IM passed with incredible speed. The 200 IM was just like the medley, except one swimmer swam all four of the strokes. Usually the 200 IM seemed to drag on and on forever but today Louis was done with it in a surprising time. He set a new personal record and ended in 2nd to some freakishly fast freshman. Louis decided he didn't like him immediately. Louis had to wait only ten seconds it seemed before he was down in the water, preparing for his 100 backstroke. Louis kicked butt in that event and there was nothing different about today. He won first and almost beat his personal best, only off by 3/10's of a second. His last event of the day was the 400 Freestyle Relay, in that event, there were four swimmers, that each swam 100 yards freestyle in a relay. Liam had a rough start, but Niall caught the boys back up when he went second. Zayn blew past everybody when he went third, setting up Louis with a few seconds head start on everybody else. He didn't need it though, Louis sprung off the diving block and swam one of the fastest hundreds in his life, sealing the teams victory.

Louis was ecstatic as he made his way back to the bus. He talked with Niall about his events, he had done fantastic in the 500 freestyle as well as his individual 100 freestyle. Niall informed Louis that Zayn had won the 100 butterfly and had placed third in the 50 freestyle. Louis was happy for both of them and he called ahead of him to where Liam was loading his bag under the bus to ask him how he had done.

"Not that bad. I got first in the 100 breaststroke. You beat me in the 200 IM but I still got second." Liam replied with a smile on his face. He was clearly pleased with how he did.

"That's good mate!" Louis called back, very excited for how fast Liam had gone.

"You think I did good though, talk to Harry." Was Liam's only reply as he got on the bus hand in hand with Danielle. Louis looked around for Harry but didn't see him yet. He got on the bus, deciding that Harry was just going to have to sit with him again on the way home. Louis made his way back to his seat and waited patiently for Harry to show up. He didn't have to wait that much longer.

Louis watched as Harry ran out of the school and towards the bus. He quickly stuffed his stuff under the bus with the rest of the teams crap and leaped up the stairs of the bus. He looked hesitantly for a seat before Louis waved at him and motioned for him to sit next to him once more. Harry smiled widely and made his way back to their seat. "What took you so long in there?" Louis questioned.

"Really want to know?" he said. His voice very deep and scratchy from all of the yelling and cheering he had done today.

"No, I don't want to know. I would rather you tell me story about a kitten," Was Louis sarcastic response.

"I love cats so don't go there," Harry said with a huge grin. "I was in there so long because..." he trailed off and blushed a deep scarlet.

"Oh just come on and tell me!" Louis hated waited for things and didn't like secrets of withheld information.

"I waited till everybody was gone to take off my swim suit because I had a seriously obvious boner." Harry said once more and blushed some more.

"Oh," Louis said and tried to keep a straight face. That was one of the funniest things he had hear all day but he didn't want to laugh at Harry. Unfortunately he did anyway. He burst out laughing, causing Niall and Zayn to turn around and stare that him oddly for a bit. "Sorry," Louis managed to tell them in between giggles. They turned back around and Harry looked like he was going to kill Louis,

"It's not funny mate!" Harry protested at Louis laughter.

"You know its funny come on," Louis said. "Anyways, um why did you have a boner? Louis asked before thinking. He turned a bright red afterward, not believing what the had just said.

"Why do you get a stiff one?" Harry hissed at him. Louis thought for a moment before answering.

"Because I like what I see." Louis said simply. It took Louis a moment to realize what Harry was suggesting. He had got a boner because he was in the boy's locker room. "What!" Louis said loudly.

"What?" Harry said in near whisper. "Be quieter dude!"

"Sorry," Louis said and lowered the volume of his words. "You saw something you liked, in the _boy's_ lockeroom?" He said, stressing the boy's.

"Shut up yah," Harry said quietly.

"Oh," Louis said, absorbing what Harry had said. Harry was interested in boys. Maybe not totally gay but he had got a boner from looking at a couple of boys. Louis didn't want to make it awkward for Harry. He had got a little hot and bothered as well when he had looked at Harry so Louis had no room to talk. So Louis decided to try and lighten the mood. "Was I too sexy for you? You just couldn't resist my body." Louis teased. Not expecting Harry's answer.

"Yep, you're a sexy motherfucker." Was Harry simple response. Louis didn't know if he was kidding or not. Louis stayed quiet, not really knowing what to say. The boys sat in silence. Harry didn't want to say anything because he was feeling completely embarrassed that he had admitted he though Louis was sexy, yes Louis probably thought he was kidding but Harry knew he was being serious and that was embarrassing. Louis didn't say anything because he wanted to tell Harry he was sexy as hell but it was already to late to say so and just wave it off as a joke. If he had said it right after Harry said he was sexy then it would have been fine. Now it was just too late and yet Louis wanted to say it anyway. He was preparing to tell Harry just what he thought before Harry spoke, "Do you mind if I sleep?" Harry said and motioned to Louis shoulder. Louis was befuddled for a minute before he grasped what Harry was wanting. He wanted to sleep on his shoulder.

"Um no that's okay," Louis said quickly, not wanting to be rude.

"Thanks Lou, that swim meet today really made me tired." Harry said and with that he adjusted in the seat until he was comfortable and rested his curly head on Louis shoulder. Harry was in heaven. Louis was unbelievably comfy and warm. Harry curled up a little more to Louis and with that he drifted off to sleep. Louis was speechless for a while, not knowing what to do in this situation. In all honestly all he wanted to do was sleep as well, he didn't want to deal with the butterfly's in his stomach and the warm sensation of Harry coming from his shoulder. Louis took a deep breathe and adjusted himself in the seat as well to get in a good position. He tried to move as little as possible as to not wake Harry's sleeping body that was on him. He was successful at getting comfortable and was all of suddent very sleepy. Looky there, right next to Louis' tired head was a mass of curls that looked like the perfect pillow. Louis leaned into Harry and rested his head on the side of Harry's. Even though he was completely asleep Harry smiled as he felt Louis resting on him as well. With that, both boys were taken away to their dreams of each other. As Eleanor made her way through the bus, snapping embarrassing pictures of people as the slept, she made sure to get of picture of Harry and Louis for they were just so adorable. She sent the picture to Louis immediately after she took it with the caption 'Not in love? Fooled me :P'. She smiled at how happy they looked and continued along the bus. She smiled widely as she saw that Niall and Zayn were nearly in the same position as Louis and Harry. She snapped another picture, smiling at how gay her friends were.


End file.
